Leaded brass and process of making it



Patented Jan. 15, 1935 UNITED STATES h 1,987,639 LEADED BRASS AND moonss OF MAKING rr Robert T. Roberts, Riverside, Ill., assignor to Western Electric Lompany, Incorporated, New York, Y., a corporation of New York No Drawing. Application November 12, 1931,

Serial No. 574,677

15 Claims.

This invention relates to a leaded brass and a process of working such a brass and more particularly to a'process of hotrolling leaded brass.

An object of the invention is to provide a leaded brass and an'efiective and eflicient process of working sucha brass.

It has been known for some time that brass consisting of about to 63 per cent copper and 37 to 40 per cent zinc may be hot rolled at temperatures ranging from 1l50 to 1600 F. This brass is known as yellow brass and on account of its tendency to crack upon slight corrosion, it has found but limited use in this country. Higher grades of brass, that is those containing a greater amount of copper, could heretofore, as far as can be learned, be hot rolled only when they were substantially free from lead and even then the temperature range at which the ro could take place was limited to 1550 to 1650 F. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a small .amount of silicon is added to a high grade brass which permits it to be hot rolled without edge cracking or breaking up during the hot rolling process.

On account of the fact that brass containing .03 per cent of lead or less is difficult to obtain and expensive, and also because even high grade brass containing .03 per cent or less of lead can be hot rolled only in a narrow temperature range, the general method of'working brass has been to cast the brass in strips or sheets of 1.125 to 1.25 inches in thickness and then working the brass to smaller dimensions by alternately cold rolling and annealing. A certain amount of cold rolling of brass invariably results in embrittling the brass and, therefore, it must be annealed before further reduction in size can take place.

It has been found that by adding silicon in small amounts, ranging from .5 per cent to 1.5 per cent, to a high grade brass containing from 64 to parts of copper and from 30 to 36 parts of zinc, the brass thus obtained may be rolled at a temperature range of 1150 to 1600 F. without edge cracking or breaking up even though the alloy may contain lead as high as .5 per cent of the alloy. If a greater amount than .5 per cent of lead is present in the brass, this may be offset by adding 2 per cent or more of silicon. However, larger quantities of silicon than this have an undesirable efiect upon the brass.

In practicing the invention in the preferred form, copper and brass are melted in the proportion of about 67 per cent copper and 32.5 per cent zinc to which A per cent silicon is added. The resulting alloy may then be cast in ingots or slabs stantially free from lead,

of about 2% to 3 inches in thickness. These slabs are then hot rolled at a temperature from about 1150 to 1600 F. to a thickness of 34; inch in a single hot rolling operation.

The casting of the brass in slabs from 2 to 3 inches in thickness avoids a large amount of waste due to surface flaws in the slabs, since a thinner slab will have substantially the same amount of surface waste which is usually milled off.

' Due to the fact that slabs having a thickness of 2% to 3 inches may be hot rolled to a thickness of A inch by following the process of this invention, the expense of alternately cold rolling and annealing is saved. After the slabs have been hot rolled to a t 'ckness of 54 inch, they may be cold rolled without previous annealing because lhng the hot rolling leaves the rass in an annealed condition.

This process makes it possible to use either new brass or scrap brass, such as salvaged from discarded telephone equipment, which usually contains a considerable amount of lead, or scrap brass may be added in any proportion to new brass. The addition of the silicon appears not only to offset the effect of the presence of lead in -the alloy but high grade brass, which is submay be .hot rolled through a much wider temperature range, thereby facilitating the hot rolling operation.

It will be understood that the nature and embodiment of the invention herein described is merely an illustrative form of the invention and many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A process of producing a brass alloy containing lead up to .5% which comprises adding silicon up to 2% of the alloy to render the brass capable of being hot-rolled.

2. A brass capable of hot working, comprising approximately 60% to 70% of copper, substantial amounts of lead up to .50%,' silicon up to 1 and the balance-approximately all zinc.

3. A brass capable of hot rolling, comprising approximately 63% to 70% of copper, substantial amounts of lead up to .5%, silicon up to 1 /2%,-

and the balance approximately all zinc.

4. A'brass capable of hot rolling, comprising approximately 60% to 70% of copper, at least .5% lead, a substantial amount of silicon up to 2% to retain the hot rolling properties of the brass in the presence of said lead, and the balance approximately all zinc. i

1 tity to retain the hot rolling properti 5. A brass capable of hot working, comprising approximately 63% to 10% of copper, at least .5% lead, a substantial amount of silicon up to 2% to retain the hot working properties of the brass in the presence said lead, and the balance approximately all zinc.

6. A tree cutting brass capable 01! hot working, comprising approximately 60% to '10% of copper, a small amount of lead, silicon in sufllcient quantity to retain the hot working properties of the brass in the presence of said lead, and the balance approximately all zinc.

"1. A,iree cutting brass capable-oi hot rolling, comprising approximately 63% to 70% 0! copper, a small'amount of lead, silicon in suflicie t quanoi the brass in the presence of said lead, and the balance approximately all zinc.

8. A brass capable of hot working, comprising approximately 60% to 70% of copper, a'small amount 01 lead; a substantial amount of silicon up to 2% to retain the hot working properties of the brass in the presence of said lead, and the balance approximately all zinc.

9. A brass capa le of hot rolling, comprising approximately 63% to 70% oi'copper, asmall amount 0! lead, a substantial amount of silicon up to 2% to retain the hot rolling properties 01 the brass in the presence of said lead, and the balance approximately all zinc.

mamas lead up to substantial amounts of silicon up to 1.5%, and the zinc.

ll. Leaded brasses capable of hot taining approximately from 60 to 70% cop substantial amounts of lead notexceeding 3%, substantial. amounts of silicon not exceeding 2%, and the balance approximately all zinc.

12. Leaded brasses capable of hot rolling containing approximately from 60 to 70% copper, substantial amounts of lead not exceeding slightly more than .5%, substantial amounts of silicon not. exceeding 2% and the balance approximately all zinc.

l3. Leaded brasses capable of hot rolling con-,

rolling containing approximately from 60 to 70% copper,

small amounts 0! lead, substantial amounts of silicon not exceeding 2% to retain the hot rolling properties of the brass in the presence oi said lead, and the balance approximately all zinc.

14. A process oi producing a brass alloy containing small amounts of lead, which comprises adding up to 2% of silicon to the alloy to neutralize the detrimental eflfect of the lead on the brass.

l5. Leaded brasses capable of hot working containing approximately 60 to copper, sub stantial amounts of lead not exceeding about 4%, substantial about 2%, and the balance approximately all zinc.

ROBERT ROBERTS.

balance approximately all amounts of silicon not exceeding 

